New Book Published by the President of the English Academy of Southern Africa

  Fatima Meer

Bright, attractive, fiercely independent, inspirational and a highly influential activist was a symbol of defiance against apartheid for she stood as a constant reminder that women chose to stand up, resist, and be counted in the liberation struggle

 

Choosing to be defiant is a visual narrative of Fatima Meer, putting the pictures of her life in the context of their time and the events that shaped her defiance. She was only 17 when her voice was heard for the first time from public platforms in Durban in support of a brave and sustained campaign against racial legislation in 1946. It became a compelling and distinctive voice of rare power over the next six decades.

The author, Professor Rajendra Chetty teaches at the University of the Western Cape. He is a postcolonial scholar and pioneering researcher in the area of South African Indian writings. His seminal works include South African Indian writings in English (2002) and The Vintage Book of South African Indian writing (2010). Other books include Indias abroad: The diaspora writes back (2004); Transnationalisms   and  diasporas (2009); Trauma, Resistance, Reconstruction in Post-1994 South African writing (2010); Narrating the new nation (2018); and literary biography,  At the edge: the writings of Ronnie Govender (2018).